Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
“Look, I ain’t trying to be one of these guys asking for more money. I’m not. [But], I’m asking for the government to stop taking so much of this!”
Mike Perry might have fallen short of a Fight of the Night bonus against Mickey Gall at UFC on ESPN 12, but ‘Platinum’ ought to earn a considerable bonus for his memorable post-fight interview with Jon Anik.
Perry, who beat Gall via unanimous decision with no professional coaches in his corner, channelled his inner Murray Rothbard and Lysander Spooner at the UFC APEX facility in Las Vegas, where he told the federal government to stop taking so much of his money.
The 28-year-old said he has paid out over a hundred thousand dollars in taxes over the last year and thinks many fighters have their priorities wrong when it comes to fighter pay.
“I gotta pay some bills, pay some debts. I gotta go talk to the tax folk. And see if we can run that number down because I believe I paid out over a hundred thousand dollars last year between a couple of different countries. And then they try and hit me again at the end of the year… I even fight for minimum wage sometimes. Look, I ain’t trying to be one of these guys asking for more money. I’m not. [But], I’m asking for the government to stop taking so much of this!” Perry said (h/t Essentially Sports).
“Maybe we work out a contract that says that ‘the taxes [are] paid when ‘Platinum’ is paid.’ Like, when I get paid, that’s it. That’s my money. Don’t give me money if you don’t want me to spend it!”
Perry beat Gall to snap a two-fight losing skid and, despite not being ranked in the top-fifteen, the Floridan remains one of the most popular fighters in the UFC welterweight division.